Mike Newton Finally Understands Shakespeare
by m. diddy
Summary: The idea of loving somebody so much that you couldn't live through the pain of losing them had baffled Mike Newton. But he was able to understand how Romeo felt the second he saw Isabella Swan. Mike's POV of Bella's first day at Forks High School.


A/N: So I've become a huge Twilight fan. And I love Mike Newton, I think he's such a sweet guy and I'm sick of reading stories where he's some sleazy, evil rapist that's possessed by Satan himself or something. And then this idea jumped into my head a couple months ago and I just couldn't get rid of it so… here is a story where he's just a regular nice guy. I'm not a Shakespeare buff by any means so if you feel like I'm completely butchering him, feel free to flame me and then hang me from a tree. I know the title is kind of weird but I'm bad at titles and I couldn't think of anything else… But please read and review!! I'd like to know what you all think of my first Twilight story.

Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer. I don't own anything and I'm not making any kind of profit from this. The dialogue between Mike and Bella is from Twilight pages 25 – 26. The Romeo and Juliet quote is, obviously, from Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare Act 2 Scene 1 Lines 44-45.

**Mike Newton Finally Understands William Shakespeare**

He woke up to the pounding of the rain. This wasn't anything new since it always rained in Forks. The rain was the only thing that he still hadn't been able to get used to in the past six years. He often found himself dreaming of California sunshine and the way it felt on his skin when he was younger. He tried his hardest to act happy, like the constant grey clouds didn't bother him in the least, but there were times when he actually resented his grandfather for getting sick and his father for moving them here so he could take over the family business, which was a camping store on the outskirts of town.

That's not to say that there were no upsides to this washed out town. He was pretty much the big man on campus at the high school. It was a pretty small school but that didn't mean that there weren't any cute girls there. There was Lauren Mallory, for example, who was absolutely gorgeous. She would swish her long blonde hair in front of him and he would completely forget the fact that she was evil. He had dated her for almost a year and a half at the beginning of high school until she dumped him for Connor. And then there was Jessica Stanley, a pretty girl with large curly brown hair that would never shut up. She had been hinting at wanting to go out with him recently. Most guys would jump at the chance to date Jessica. She was very cute despite her love of gossip but he found that he simply couldn't bring himself to care. It was the rain, it had finally started to get to him. He really missed the sun.

"Mike! It's time to get up!" his mom called from outside the door.

Mike sighed and rolled out of bed. He really didn't want to go to school right now. The constant rain really just made him want to stay in bed. But he went and took a shower and got ready for the day. He found his mother waiting for him downstairs. "Morning," he said.

She smiled at him. "We need you to work at the store this afternoon. Todd just called out sick."

Mike snorted at this. Todd was a senior at the high school and he probably wasn't even sick, he had just drank a little too much over the weekend and was feeling a little too hung over to do anything today. Mike would bet everything he owned that Todd wouldn't be in school today either. "But I told Tyler I'd help him work on his car," Mike said, trying very hard not to whine. This was a lie, of course. He was actually planning to go to Tyler's and play Halo 3 until his thumbs went numb but he couldn't let his mom know that. She had this weird thing against video games and would insist that he work instead of "letting his brain rot."

His mother scowled at this. "Well, you'll just have to cancel. Your father needs you at the store. I know it's not that busy at this time of the year but he simply can't be there alone. Now you better head off to school or you'll be late."

"Fine," Mike said. He grabbed a pop tart from the counter, not bothering to heat it up in the toaster, and headed outside. He ran through the rain to the used Suburban his father had given him for his sixteenth birthday. He had bought it for him on the condition that Mike buy the insurance, gas and any repairs that the car needed. And then his father gave him a job at Newton Outfitters in order to pay for all of those things. His father acted like it was some kind of treat, working at that stupid camping store, but Mike thought it was hell. And the worst part was that his father seemed to think that Mike would take over the business when his dad was ready to retire, much like his father had when his grandfather got too sick to watch the store. But Mike planned on going away for college, as far as he could get from this damned town, and selling the stupid store when his father was gone.

He arrived at the school soon after that and noticed a car that he had never seen before. It was a large, red pick up truck that looked like it was from the 1950s. He didn't know anyone who drove a car like that so that meant someone had gotten it over the weekend. He laughed then. He really felt bad for whoever was suckered into buying that piece of junk. He parked near it and hurried off to his first period English class. He got there right before the bell rang and hurried to his seat. And then _she_ walked in.

She had to be a new student. He definitely would have remembered someone that beautiful. She was pale, but not in a sickly way, and had a heart-shaped face. She had this beautiful long, straight dark brown hair and deep brown eyes that he could lose himself in. Her lips were big, too big for her face. He wanted more than anything to be able to touch them, to run his thumb along her pouty bottom lip. She seemed nervous, although he couldn't tell why. There was no way that a girl like her wouldn't be accepted in this school. She talked quietly with the teacher for a couple minutes before turning and walking to the only empty desk, which was unfortunately across the room from him. He watched as Eric Yorkie, a greasy haired kid who played too many games of Dungeons & Dragons, turned around but the bell rang before he could say anything. Mike was grateful but frustrated. If only he had sat on that side of the room, he would talk to her even if class was in session.

He couldn't pay attention in class. He kept turning around to see her, the new girl. She was paying attention to Mr. Mason, which was something that no one did in this class. He watched as she fidgeted around in her seat nervously while taking notes. He noticed that she seemed to bite her nails without even realizing that she was doing it. When the class was finally over, he was ready to go introduce himself but Yorkie somehow managed to get her attention instead. He heard her say that her name was Isabella Swan, but she preferred Bella. She was the daughter of the Chief of Police. Everyone had heard the stories about how his flighty ex-wife had taken off with his daughter when she was only a baby and never looked back. There had been rumors of her return to Forks going around for a while now, but Mike hadn't thought that she would look like **that**. He heard her say that her next class was Government in Building Four and Mike shamelessly followed them. It wasn't that he was some kind of creepy stalker, he just wanted to learn everything he could about this beautiful mystery girl. He found himself actually groaning at the fact that Eric simply couldn't understand her jokes. That was the point when he headed towards his second period class before he drew too much attention to himself.

His next two classes went by painstakingly slowly. All he could think of was Isabella Swan and who'd she be sitting with in the cafeteria at lunch. Once the bell rang, signaling the end of fourth period, Mike ran to the cafeteria. He didn't even bother getting any food, he just sat down at the table where his group of friends usually sat and watched the doors. He wasn't really sure what his game plan was but he just had to see her again. And that was when she walked in with Jessica Stanley. He watched as the curly-haired girl chattered away while they got food.

"Hey man, are you sick or something?" Tyler Crowley, Mike's best friend, asked. He must have noticed that Mike didn't have any food.

Mike just shook his head and watched as she made her way through the food line with Jessica. Tyler turned to see what Mike was staring at and smiled. "That's Isabella Swan, right?" he asked.

Mike nodded. "She just came here from Phoenix. She was in my English class today."

Tyler sat down next to Mike and watched her talk with Jessica. "She's pretty cute," he said. They both watched as Jessica led her over to the table where her friends were sitting. "Why is she waving to Yorkie?"

Mike laughed. "He was talking to her after English class. You should have seen it, he was acting like a complete tool. He couldn't understand any of her jokes and talked to her about the weather." He noticed Jessica looking at him, giving him a hurt look. He felt bad. He knew that she had been interested in him but she couldn't hold a candle to Isabella. It wasn't that Mike was a jerk, it just felt like Isabella had breathed fresh air into his life. He wasn't going to give that up for the girl who dumped him in the sixth grade because he had refused to hold her hand on the playground.

Tyler snorted at that. "I bet he thinks he has a chance with her. What an idiot."

"Yeah, I know," Mike said. At that point, Connor sat down at their table and started talking about the Sonics game that had been on the night before. Mike tried to contribute to the conversation but he couldn't focus. He found himself turning back to Bella's table and had to fight the urge to swear out loud. She was staring dreamily at the Cullens. Of course she was curious about them. They were all extremely good looking and extremely rich. He suddenly found himself very glad that both Emmett and Jasper were already taken. But Edward wasn't. He knew that a lot of the girls were taken with him but he also knew that Edward had never seemed interested in any of them. Mike was a very optimistic person but he knew that he had a very miniscule chance up against Edward Cullen. And that was why he was hoping against hope that Edward would continue to be oblivious to all of the females in Forks… or that he ended up being gay.

When he saw her get up and leave with Angela Webber, he almost jumped for joy. That meant she had Biology II with him. He got up and grabbed his bag. "Dude, where are you going?" Tyler asked, giving him a strange look.

"Class," Mike said as if it were the most obvious thing.

"You're going to class early?" Tyler and Connor were looking at him as if he had just grown another head.

"Yeah," Mike said before quickly walking out of the cafeteria. He knew his friends thought he was crazy but he had to follow her. It was like she was a magnet, constantly drawing him towards her. When he walked into the room, he saw her giving Mr. Banner a slip of paper to sign. He quickly sat down next to his lab partner, Pamela Green, and tried to watch her without looking too suspicious. He scowled as he realized that she would have to sit next to Edward Cullen. Of course the only empty seat was next to him. He could have any girl that he wanted in the whole school and now fate was giving him the first shot at the beautiful new girl. Some guys really had all the luck.

She sat down next to Edward. Mike didn't know what she did to him but Edward was looking at her as if he was only a step away from taking her head off. His face was twisted up, as if she was offending him simply by sitting next to him. Mike couldn't help but smile. Edward was going to ignore her, much like he ignored all of the other girls in the school. This greatly improved Mike's chances. He was so happy that time seemed to fly by and before he knew it, Biology was over. Edward was out of the room before the bell had even finished ringing. Mike had never seen anyone move that fast but he wasn't really concerned about that right now. Instead, he jumped up from his seat and walked as quickly as he could, without seeming too eager, to Isabella's desk. "Aren't you Isabella Swan?" he asked. He knew her name but he didn't want to her to think that he was some kind of crazy freak.

"Bella," she smiled. She had a beautiful smile that brightened up Mike's day. He was almost positive that her smile could outshine the sun.

"I'm Mike," he said.

"Hi Mike," she said. He had never particularly liked his name but he loved hearing her say it.

"Do you need any help finding your next class?" _Please say yes_, Mike thought. He would gladly escort her to the ends of the earth.

"I'm headed to gym, actually. I think I can find it."

Mike had to thank God or fate or whatever it was that put her in his gym class. "That's my next class too," he smiled. He waited for her to grab her things and then he walked with her to the gym. He told her that he understood how she felt about the sun. He mentioned how he used to live in the California sunshine until he was ten and he still missed it. He also told her that he was in her first period English class, so that's how he knew what her name was. He realized he was rambling on but he had waited all day to talk to this girl and she simply wasn't very talkative. Normally, Mike could stand silence but not with her. He wanted to know everything about her and since she wasn't sharing, he told her about himself. He was especially curious about how she felt about Edward Cullen. He knew that the fact that the boy had pretty much dismissed her wouldn't stop her from carrying a torch for him. It happened with all the other girls in the school. They seemed to think he was playing hard to get when he was really just not interested. He tried to be as discrete as possible when he said, "So, did you stab Edward Cullen with a pencil or what? I've never seen him act like that."

She visibly cringed. "Was that the boy I sat next to in Biology?" She was trying to act like she hadn't noticed him but Mike knew better. She had obviously taken his dismissal to heart.

Mike had to let her know that not all of the guys at Forks High were like that. Mike, for instance, would have been as polite as possible to her if he had been lucky enough to sit next to her. "Yes," Mike said. "He looked like he was in pain or something."

"I don't know," Bella said. "I never spoke to him."

_Good_, Mike thought. He hid his smile as he said, "He's a weird guy. If I were lucky enough to sit by you, I would have talked to you."

She smiled at him and then turned and walked into the girls' lockers room. Mike was suddenly reminded of that play they had read in their ninth grade English class, Romeo and Juliet. He had never really understood how Romeo could fall for Juliet the second he had seen her. And he especially didn't understand how, after such a short relationship, he would be willing to drink poison because he thought she was dead. The idea of loving somebody so much that you couldn't live through the pain of losing them had baffled him. He had never fallen in love, never mind been so in love with someone that he couldn't live without them. He remembered this quote that Mr. Mason had been going on and on about: _What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun._ Mike had thought that Romeo had lost his marbles since, not only had he been talking to himself, but he had said that in the middle of the night. When he had voiced that opinion, Mr. Mason had corrected him by saying that Juliet had been so beautiful to Romeo that she had transformed the darkness into daylight. As Mike headed towards the boys' locker room, he finally understood what Romeo had meant. Bella was _his_ sun. She had brought the sunlight into this grey, rainy town with that smile, right when he had needed it the most. Living without the California sunshine wouldn't be that awful anymore now that she was here. And while Mike wasn't quite ready to drink poison for her, he was definitely able to take on anything that would stop him from getting his shot with her.


End file.
